


Verismo, Renaissance

by Demi (pseudodemi)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, F/M, M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudodemi/pseuds/Demi
Summary: Another typical Kingdom Hearts AU.As if you needed one.
Relationships: Axel & Saïx (Kingdom Hearts), Axel/Larxene (Kingdom Hearts), Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Demyx & Zexion (Kingdom Hearts), Hayner/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Kudos: 10





	Verismo, Renaissance

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Verismo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8450650) by [Demi (pseudodemi)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudodemi/pseuds/Demi). 



> Verismo: The use of everyday life and actions in artistic works.
> 
> Renaissance: Revival, rebirth.
> 
> I haven't written in about five years, so hopefully this doesn't suck too much.  
> I've decided to keep the chapters at around 2,000 words each, since that's what I'm currently comfortable with, so, needless to say, short chapters.  
> I'm kinda just writing this as I go, so I don't think any major progression will happen for awhile.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> A/N for chapter one; (as of 12/28/2019) I'm currently going back and re-writing the perspective it's written in, and changing it to third-person instead of first - I won't be able to properly add in the dialogues I want otherwise.
> 
> Warm thoughts,  
> \- Demi

**Chapter 1: Overture.**

_‘I wonder if Oath//Oblivion carries any dark wave cassettes',_ I thought absently. _'I know they mostly carry local punk and obscure, un-signed material.’_

  
My attention was brought back into the land of the living by fingers snapping a mere few inches from my face.

  
_“Helloooo”_ he said, impatiently. “Earth to Roxas!”

  
“Hm?” I replied in a bored manner.

  
“Christ, what is _up_ with you today, Roxas? Did you get the celery or not?”

  
I rolled my eyes at him. “Yes, Sora, I got the celery.” I held up my right arm that was currently holding the said vegetable in a plastic produce bag to show that I had indeed, gotten the celery.

  
“Well, good.” He crossed his arms and furrowed his brows at me. “Seriously though, are you okay Rox? You've been a space-case all day.”

  
“I'm fine,” I replied. “Just tired. Ready to go?”

  
“You know, ever since you stopped hanging out with Van, you've been totally distant. You can’t seriously think I'm the only one who notices. Was something going on between you two? He won't tell me anything either – just that you two had a falling out and don't talk to each other anymore.” He gave me an expectant look with his eyebrows raised.

  
I gave him an annoyed look in return. I was seriously _not_ up to having this conversation right now. I loved Sora to bits, and I've known him since we were both five or so when my family moved in down the street from his. I'm not sure of the exact age, just that we were really young when our families both met each other, and thus began our life-long friendship that we currently shared. Anyway. Back to my original comment. Loved the guy to bits, but he really didn't know when to shut up, or drop the subject at hand.

  
“Dude,” I started. “Can we _not_ do this today? Your brother's an asshole. End of story. I don't wanna talk about it.”

  
Sora sighed, sounding frustrated. “You never wanna talk about it, Rox. Neither of you do. Ever since he started going out with Ven, you two have had it out for each other. Don’t think I haven't noticed.” He pointed and accusing finger at me.

  
I stared up at the ceiling of the grocery store we were currently in, and observed the off-grey colour, before gesturing the sign of the cross, and muttering lowly to myself, “lord forgive me, for I am about to sin.”

  
“What are you going on about n-” he tried to say before I reached into the buggy that contained our groceries, grabbed the baguette, and promptly thwacked him upside the head with it. _“-OW”_

  
“You deserved it for not shutting up and minding your own business.” I said emotionlessly, depositing the baguette back into the buggy and walking towards the checkout.

  
“That really hurt…” Sora rubbed his head and mumbled to himself, before following suit towards the checkout counters.

  
We checked out with our groceries and headed back towards Sora's car. We decided to split the bill this time, since I had just moved into the dorm with Sora, and neither of us had groceries in the shared fridge. Myself moreso than him. God, all I wanted to do was get back to our dorm, unload these damn groceries, and take a goddamn nap. I was going out later to meet up with another student, so I could catch up on course work.

  
Long story short; I was attending the same programme at a different college, and due to personal reasons, that will remain undisclosed until further notice, I switched over to the college that Sora was attending, three-weeks into the semester. Normally, colleges wouldn't accept transfer students after the first week of the semester, but I sat down with the Dean and had a _very_ long conversation about why I was so adamant on transferring. There was a lot of reluctance on his part, but ultimately we agreed that he would put through the transfer, as long as I completed the first three weeks of assignments before the following Friday. Luckily for me, I only had two courses that required assignments to be handed in. My GenEd assignments were easy enough – write a two-page essay in APA format about a religion of our choosing, and complete the in-class work from our textbook (mostly chapter reviews). My elective course on the other hand, was what I needed help with. Majority of the course work I had missed were in-class lectures and note-taking, and a short online questionnaire about the topics learned since the first week. I was able to talk with my professor, Aerith, and she emailed another student in the same class who regularly tutored other students. Thankfully, they were more than willing to help, and I was meeting them tonight. Hence wanting to take a _goddamn nap._

  
The car ride back was pretty uneventful. Sora asked me if I had gotten everything unpacked, to which I replied for the fifth time that day that yes, I had already unpacked my clothes, and everything else that I had brought with me. Christ, I swear that Sora had the memory of a squirrel sometimes.

  
We got back to our dorm and haphazardly unpacked the groceries into the fridge and cupboards. Sora had the bright idea of taking the stairs up to the _eighth fucking floor_ instead of just using the elevator. You know, like any other _normal_ person would do. “It’s good exercise!” he said. We were both exhausted and trying to catch our breath by the time we finally got back to our dorm. 

  
I promptly excused myself afterwards and went to my room. I set my alarm for six-thirty-pm and flopped down onto my bed, letting out a long sigh. I was exhausted from unpacking and trying to get everything in my room set up. I moved in a few days ago and I’d just finished unpacking this morning. I really wasn't looking forward to spending my weekend working on an essay and my other assignments. The rest of my main courses didn't have anything due until next week, so, they could wait.

  
I'm still not sure why I decided to go into photography. It seemed fun last year, but the course work got really repetitive, really fast. Take over-exposed and under-exposed photos of this, bring some objects into class with you and take photos of them in front of a backdrop, hand in originals and unedited versions of the _same fucking picture_. At least in the second year, which I was currently enrolled in, we'd finally be able to start working more regularly with models (AKA other students). It was definitely a lot more interesting than taking the same photo of a jar a bajilion times and narrowing down which ones you'd hand in.

  
I sighed again, this time more exasperated, and squeezed the bridge of my nose, inhaling deeply, before exhaling. I seriously needed to chill out if I was going to attempt taking a nap. It was about three o'clock now, which left me roughly three hours to sleep and rest, assuming that I'd fall asleep sometime _soon._ Thankfully, Sora had to study for some upcoming quiz, so he wasn't making a racket like he normally tended to do.

  
I reached over to my bedside nightstand and double-checked that my alarm was set. All good-to-go. I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and retrieved my headphones, placing them into their respective ears and actively tried my best to tune out the world. I picked a shoegaze playlist that I'd curated awhile ago, and set the volume to low. I closed my eyes and tried my best to fall asleep.

xxxx

I was expecting to wake up to my alarm, but was instead woken up by my phone going off. I blearily cracked open one of my eyes and rolled over onto my stomach, reaching out towards my nightstand. I slapped the wooden surface erratically, searching for my phone. Who the _fuck_ makes phone calls anymore? Why can't people just _text_ instead?

  
I signed in frustration, finally grabbing my phone and tried to see who was calling me. The number was unsaved, and I didn’t recognize it. With another frustrated sign, I hit the answer button and brought it up to my ear, placing my other hand on my forehead, slightly rubbing at my face.

  
“Hello?” my voice was hoarse and groggy from sleep.

  
“Ah…” the voice started. “Is this Roxas?”

  
“Speaking,” I replied, willing myself to wake up more. I didn't recognize the voice. Who the hell was calling me?

  
“I apologize if I've woken you – you sound as if you might've been sleeping.”

  
“S’all good” I managed to get out. All I wanted to do was go back to bed already.

  
“It’s Zexion,” he said. His voice was calm, and he spoke in a gentle manner. “from your Abnormal Pshyc. class. I know we've mostly been communicating through email, but I decided to take you up on your offer of contacting you more directly via your phone number…” he paused, before adding, “I hope that's okay.”

  
“Yeah, no, that's cool.” I was finally starting to get some cognitive brain activity going on. “What’s up?”

  
“Would you be okay with coming to my dorm, instead of the library?” he paused. “It completely slipped my mind that they're doing renovations there for the next month after six o’clock. Replacing light fixtures, heating elements, etc. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

  
“Hm? Yeah, that's no problem.” I sat up in my bed and looked at the wall clock that was installed, it was about six-fifteen right now. At least it wasn’t a minute before my alarm was about to go off – I would’ve been _really_ pissed at this guy if that was the case. Mind you, I was still a bit annoyed, but I'd get over it. “What building is your dorm room in?”

  
“I really appreciate it” he said, letting out a small, awkward laugh. “I’m in dorm B. Fourth floor, room 406.”

  
“Oh, sweet, your only one dorm over,” I replied. Sora and I were located in dorm A, room 813. Thank God this college labeled room numbers with the floor number in front. The college I was at beforehand labeled them in such a disorganised fashion that nobody knew where the hell anything was.

  
“I’ll meet you at seven?” he asked. I appreciated this guy's to-the-point way of talking. Even his emails were straight to the point, instead of beating around the bush like a _certain roommate_ of mine tended to do. I swear, half the time I'd have to interrupt Sora's ranting and tell him to just _get on with it_ already.

  
“Seven's still good” I replied. “I’ll see you then.”

  
“See you then,” he replied, and ended the call.

  
I groaned and forced myself to get out of bed; I iterate again, that I really just wanted to go back to sleep. I dragged myself over to my bedroom door and headed to our small kitchen, determined to eat a snack or _something_ before heading out.  
Sora was at the table, or rather, the bartop of the kitchen, eating cereal and playing some game on his phone.

  
“Bonsoir, mon ami,” Sora said, smiling widely. “As-tu bien dormi?”

  
“…” I looked at him and narrowed my eyes slightly. “Oui, Je si bien dormi.”

  
Before he could say something else, I interrupted him. “Why are we talking in French, Sora? I just woke up.”

  
Sora momentarily pouted. “Because it's fun! And nobody here knows enough French to have a conversation with me!”

  
“That sounds like a _you_ problem, Sora,” I said, grabbing a bowl and spoon from the cupboard and drawer, and poured myself some cereal and milk that were still on the counter.

  
_“Con…”_ Sora muttered, unsuccessfully, under his breath, going back to his own cereal and whatever game he was playing on his phone.

  
“I heard that, _tête de citrouille!”_ I said, reaching over the bartop and smacking him on the head with my spoon, before leaning back against the counter and returning to eat my cereal.

  
“Tais-toi!” Sora stuck his tongue out at me and let out a soft chuckle. “Nobody even _uses_ that lame insult anymore, Roxas.”

  
“N’importe quoi,” I said, dismissing his comment, letting a small smile make it's way onto my face. “Let me finish eating my cereal.”

  
Sora merely rolled his eyes at me and turned his attention back to his phone.


End file.
